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Ten Questions for Barry Minkow
The current head of the Fraud Discovery Institute also served more than seven years in prison for the infamous ZZZZ Best scam.
Barry Minkow says he plans to be remembered for more than the ZZZZ Best Co. fraud. The 38-year-old Minkow served more than seven years in prison for the infamous 1980s scam. But he hopes that his current efforts as head of the Fraud Discovery Institute and as pastor of The Community Bible Church in San Diego will supersede his activities as CEO of the carpet-cleaning company. This month his new book, <em class="italic">Cleaning Up</em> (Nelson Current), debuts.
<em class="bold">1. Currently, you are fighting the very crime you were convicted of. Isn't that ironic?</em>No one failed worse than I did at such a young age. Sure, you can adjust the dollar amounts and say it was $10 billion with Bernie Ebbers at WorldCom, but it doesn't matter. I was CEO of a public company and I failed. [ZZZZ Best] was a fully reporting public company with a stock that went from $12 to $80. And at 21, I got a 25-year sentence and a $26 million restitution order, and that's [since been]...